Authority is what you can rely on to make decisions about your life and begin new things. There is inner authority and outer authority.

It is important to understand that you cannot get to correct authority or decision making without first being correct in your aura strategy.

Everything is about strategy...if you are not correct in your aura, the following section is useless!!!

To learn more about decision making see the Human Design Video Section/ Understanding AuthorityHere we will take a look at how the different centers operate if they are your inner authority. Often many centers are defined but only one center is your authority. The centers are listed below in order of how common they are as inner authorities, beginning with the most common the Solar Plexus, when this center is defined it is automatically the inner authority.

Solar Plexus/ Emotional Authority

When the Solar Plexus is defined in someone's chart it means their inner authority is Emotional. This means that regardless of what they are, Generator or Manifesting Generator, Manifestor, or Projector, regardless of how the rest of their chart is defined, they have an emotional wave that colors everything in them.

This means, for example, that when a Generator or Manifesting Generator with a defined Solar Plexus responds, "Uh Huh," or, "Un uh," (yes or no) to something in the moment that is only PART of their truth. This person needs to avoid committing to their first response and wait out their flow of emotion and check back in to respond from various places in the wave, when they feel great and when they feel down. Once the person has gone through their whole wave and heard their responses through it, they can feel comfortable in their body about what seems true for them. The emotional person in this sense has multiple emotional selves that cycle through, it needs to check in as each one of these shifting selves to get a sense of what their larger truth is. This is why we say, "There is no truth in the now for the emotional being."

When the Sacral Center is defined in a chart the person is either a Generator or Manifesting Generator (MG). If the Solar Plexus is undefined then the Generator or MG has pure Sacral Authority. This means that this person's gut response is their authority, this is a visceral feeling in the body that Generators and MG's are encouraged to learn to give voice to, to not only feel it in the body but to relearn the natural sounds that come with the feeling. These sounds are roughly, "Uh Huh," for yes and, "Un Uh," for no, though there can be a response to a question that is unclear that is an, "Uhnnn..."

So, a non-emotional Generator or MG living their strategy waits for life to come to them and responds in the moment and knows then that this is something that they have energy for, that it is healthy for them. Generators and MG's also can ask someone to ask them questions about ANYTHING in their life or themselves to find their truth. Again it is important to learn not to censor the sounds, to become acquainted with your truth coming through you. It is ultimately up to you what you do once you know what your truth is.

When the Splenic Center is defined in a chart and neither the Sacral or Solar Plexus Centers are, this person's inner authority is Splenic. The only types with Splenic authority are Manifestors and Projectors. The Spleen speaks only in the "Now" and only speaks once. This can be a difficult feeling to get a sense of at first as the "voice" of the Spleen can be very quiet in the beginning. The feeling is a tingling that can rise from the abdomen and flood the whole body but can also be just a faint resonance. Some people describe the Splenic "hit" as a feeling of light or lightness that moves through the body.

As an example a Projector can be sitting around talking with a friend who suggests that he or she check out this apartment that is for rent and in that moment, literally as the other person is mentioning this, the Projector's body may flush with a tingling sensation- this would indicate that this apartment, or at least looking into it is very healthy for the Projector. On the other hand the Projector's body may be totally silent, indicating it is not for him or her. Again, this as a voice for your truth does NOT repeat itself, if you do not learn to listen to your body's response about what is correct you will continue to miss YOUR LIFE.

A person's inner authority is the G Center when nothing below it in the chart is defined, the Ego, Solar Plexus, Spleen, or Sacral. You can have a defined Head and Ajna and still have G authority. If the G center is the authority it is connected to the throat (if it connects to anything else the G will not be the authority.) What we get with the connection to the throat is someone who can begin to get a sense when they are speaking whether or not something is true for them based on how it feels and sounds as the words are coming out.

Generally, when an open center is speaking it feels difficult, like the throat and chest are closing up, it feels and sounds forced. When the words are flowing effortlessly and it sounds rooted in the body this is an indication that what is being said is true for the person. Another cue that people with this authority can focus on is feelings in the center of their chest. The same applies as before, a closed or disconnected feeling indicates that something is not for you while a connected feeling, a fullness in the chest is a sign something is good for the person. Ultimately it is recommended with this authority that you talk about important things in your life with another person to get clear on what your truth is.

A person has outer authority when either one of the following sets of centers are defined: Head, Ajna and Throat; Head and Ajna; or Ajna and Throat. This authority is named Outer Authority because the mind, for all of us, can only be an authority for others. The mind measures, it is the domain of "this and that" it is looking at the Maia, or World, in trying to understand what it sees a story is created. The mind is dependent on causality, on "this happened so that happened," the mind takes in the outside world and has made an identity you think is you. The story of "you" is dependent on the concepts of yesterday and tomorrow, the mind knows nothing about the present moment or what is correct for the body, everything from the mind is subjective and cannot know YOUR GENETIC TRUTH.

So, what do you do if only your mind (and possibly your throat) are defined? You talk over you situation or pending decision with people you trust. You are not telling them in the hopes of receiving an answer from them, you are speaking to them and listening to what you say, you may need to speak to a number of people before you find your clarity. Even though you have no definition below the throat people with this authority have reported a feeling of security or comfort in their body about the decision after they have gone through the process of talking it out.

The Reflector is the only type (of four types) that has Lunar Authority. This is radically different from all the other authorities. Lunar Authority involves waiting a full lunar cycle when considering a big decision. The Moon makes its round through the wheel, the sky, the Human Design Mandala and graph, once every 28 to 29 days. For a Reflector this will connect every "hanging" gate in their chart (the moon, like the planets and sun, defines a gate in a person's chart when they are born and in its constant rotation brings definition to all the gates in the body graph every 28 to 29 days.) The Reflector has only gates that are activated, have color, but are poking out of open (white) centers.

Through this monthly cycle of having their chart turned on in a set way by the Moon's path, the energy "trapped" in the open centers of the Reflector is able to move around. Reflectors are strongly encouraged in the beginning of their experiment to spend at least a year becoming acquainted with what happens in their chart intellectually as well as to feel what it is like for them to suddenly have definition through the Moon's transit. For example, a Reflector may go through (with the Moon's consistent cycle) being a Reflector, then an Emotional Generator, then a Mental Projector, then a Splenic Manifestor, and so on for 28 days. Mind you there are 64 Gates in the body graph so the moon moves relatively quickly, through about two gates a day. The Reflector after becoming acquainted with it's many definitions can begin to feel out through their cycle what it is like to sit with the decision with their different definitions. At the end of a cycle or perhaps many cycles, the Reflector can have a sense of clarity about the decision.

People with Ego Authority, the rarest inner authority, can only be Projectors or Manifestors and will not have definition in their chart below the Ego Center. Waiting for the invitation is the strategy for the Projector. Informing the other of what you are about to do is the strategy of the Manifestor. This authority, especially with a defined throat, is similar to the G Center Authority in that if your truth is flowing through your voice without interference from the mind it is significant as a personal truth or that what you are discussing is something correct for you.

A defined Ego (see our section on the 9 centers) comes with an identity with a capital "I." This authority, in it's true expression or energy expresses what it wants: "It has to be good for ME." "It has to be what I want." When this is a Projector, where the Ego is connected to the G, a focus on the feeling in the center of your chest, paying attention to when it feels closed or open, connected or disconnected, one can develop a sense of what is correct. As a Manifestor, where this energy is going directly to the throat your truth is often expressed spontaneously. When the words leave your mouth before you even have a chance to think YOUR truth is flowing, you probably have some experiences of having done this. This is also a tricky authority in the sense that the expression of your truth can be beyond your ability to connect to in the beginning, your authority expresses itself and there you are again disconnected from it a moment later. Experimenting with Strategy and Authority is the only way to get a sense of if it works for you or not.